The Dream of Homeownership Is Haunted By Eviction in This Debut Novel

Electric Literature is featuring a review and interview with Andrea Uptmor about her debut novel, The New People. The book follows newlyweds Emma and Rachel, who move into a foreclosed house in a Midwestern college town in 2008, unaware that the evicted former owners, Charlotte and Dirk, are still living in the attic — a practice known as phrogging. Uptmor tells the outlet she drew inspiration from the foreclosure wave in her own Minneapolis neighborhood, and wanted to capture how one house could hold wildly different experiences of economic and social precarity. The novel pairs the queer couple's struggles with those of the older displaced couple, both navigating loss and uncertainty during the 2008 recession.

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